Periodic Reporting for period 3 - GEARING ROLES (Gender Equality Actions in Research Institutions to traNsform Gender ROLES)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-07-01 bis 2022-12-31
Gender equality is a fundamental value of the European acquis and an essential part of European research and innovation policy. Since the first Communication on women and science in 1999 (EC 1999) and throughout the first decade of this century, EU institutions have called to facilitate the involvement of women in the academic sector, with gender equality now one of the five priorities of the European Research Area (EC 2012, p.4). Equality plans were included as an instrument to support structural change during the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Although their funding had already begun during the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), it was during FP7 that the European Commission's (EC) commitment was consolidated, especially with the inclusion of equality as one of the priority objectives of the ERA. This commitment was reinforced with the adoption of other instruments at a general level, such as the European Pact for Gender Equality (2011-2020), or the Strategic Commitment for Gender Equality 2016-2019. During the Eighth Framework Programme (Horizon 2020), projects for the implementation of equality plans experienced a very important boost, not only in terms of funding, increasing the number of projects, but also due to the prominence that they have been acquiring as key actors for change, as we will see below. GEARING-Roles shares this vision.
Through the implementation of 6 Gender Equality Plans (GEPs), GEARING-Roles aims at challenging and transforming gender roles and identities linked to professional careers, and work towards real institutional change. The project's main objective is to promote structural change in the 6 GEP implementing institutions, questioning and transforming traditional gender roles at the micro, meso, and macro levels. To achieve the final objective of institutional change, the 6 institutions implementing equality plans have generated and reinforced structures and have worked with different institutional actors such as management teams, people management departments, teaching and research staff and students.In addition to the general aim of promoting structural change in the six GEP implementing institutions, GEARING-Roles held four specific objectives:
O.1. - Female career progression:
O.2. - Leadership and decision-making:
O.E.3 Education and research:
O.E.4. Promotion of Gender Equality in Research Organisations and key stakeholders for the reinforcement of ERA.
To disseminate the common framework and outputs for institutional gender assessment, planning, monitoring and evaluation to establish a commitment to gender equality in major European stakeholder organisations and build a sustainable long-term network of organisations advancing gender equality, GEARING-Roles has been attending events where it advocated for gender equality amongst its stakeholders. The consortium has raised awareness about gender equality and the role of the project on diverse social media and online platforms and it has published work on gender equality in higher education. GEARING-Roles has been attending events where it advocated for gender equality amongst its stakeholders and developed innovative tools to raise awareness about gender equality such as Nobel run and Humorarium.
Through the implementation of 6 Gender Equality Plans (GEPs), GEARING-Roles aims at challenging and transforming gender roles and identities linked to professional careers, and work towards real institutional change. The project's main objective is to promote structural change in the 6 GEP implementing institutions, questioning and transforming traditional gender roles at the micro, meso, and macro levels. To achieve the final objective of institutional change, the 6 institutions implementing equality plans have generated and reinforced structures and have worked with different institutional actors such as management teams, people management departments, teaching and research staff and students.In addition to the general aim of promoting structural change in the six GEP implementing institutions, GEARING-Roles held four specific objectives:
O.1. - Female career progression:
O.2. - Leadership and decision-making:
O.E.3 Education and research:
O.E.4. Promotion of Gender Equality in Research Organisations and key stakeholders for the reinforcement of ERA.
To disseminate the common framework and outputs for institutional gender assessment, planning, monitoring and evaluation to establish a commitment to gender equality in major European stakeholder organisations and build a sustainable long-term network of organisations advancing gender equality, GEARING-Roles has been attending events where it advocated for gender equality amongst its stakeholders. The consortium has raised awareness about gender equality and the role of the project on diverse social media and online platforms and it has published work on gender equality in higher education. GEARING-Roles has been attending events where it advocated for gender equality amongst its stakeholders and developed innovative tools to raise awareness about gender equality such as Nobel run and Humorarium.
In the period reported, the approval of the six equality plans within the consortium should be highlighted.In its third period of implementation, GEARING Roles has focused its activity on the implementation of the actions of the plans. In addition to the internal activity of the GEPIS, in this third period the project activity has been focused on work packages 6, 7 and 8, with a special emphasis on the application of gender mainstreaming in teaching and research, capacity building of the GEPIS and dissemination of the results.
On the other hand, in this PR, the external evaluation of the project has been able to assess the degree of achievement of the KPIS.
Despite resistances and difficulties, such as the impact of COVID 19 pandemic, GEARING-Roles has achieved significant results:
1) The FELISE mentoring programme has been highly valued by the participants and is currently listed in the mentoring programme guide of the Women and Science Unit of the Spanish Government as a good practice.
2) The Resistance toolkit allowed us to identify the main formal and informal resistances we faced in order to address and overcome them.
3) The NOBEL RUN game, created and designed by UDEUSTO staff makes women in science visible and aims to break the gender gap in STEAM.
4) The Humorarium, which shows us how we can use humour to tackle resistance to equality policies and how we can win and convince through humour.
5) The Handbook for creating a gender-sensitive curriculum focuses on gender-sensitive pedagogy by looking at how to embed gender in different modalities of teaching and learning, including the potential gender biases both in the knowledge and attitudes of educators, and in their teaching practice staff and students.
One of the successes of this project has been the pairing-meetings, the design of these meetings has been successful as it has allowed people from outside the project, but very linked to our universities, to participate and get to know Gearing-Roles and the actions of the equality plans.
We must value very positively the Conferences organised, first in Lisbon, then in Sabanci in online format, thirdly, in Tartu in hybrid format and finally the Final Conference and the Joint Conference in Brussels in October 2022. These conferences have deepened the mutual knowledge of the consortium members, but also raised awareness of the work carried out by the project and created interesting links with sister projects and other stakeholders.
Our communication policy was recognised by CORDIS. The social media campaigns and our website, with its podcasts, newsletters, videos and updated information has been a great achievement and a real success in terms of communication and knowledge transfer.
On the other hand, in this PR, the external evaluation of the project has been able to assess the degree of achievement of the KPIS.
Despite resistances and difficulties, such as the impact of COVID 19 pandemic, GEARING-Roles has achieved significant results:
1) The FELISE mentoring programme has been highly valued by the participants and is currently listed in the mentoring programme guide of the Women and Science Unit of the Spanish Government as a good practice.
2) The Resistance toolkit allowed us to identify the main formal and informal resistances we faced in order to address and overcome them.
3) The NOBEL RUN game, created and designed by UDEUSTO staff makes women in science visible and aims to break the gender gap in STEAM.
4) The Humorarium, which shows us how we can use humour to tackle resistance to equality policies and how we can win and convince through humour.
5) The Handbook for creating a gender-sensitive curriculum focuses on gender-sensitive pedagogy by looking at how to embed gender in different modalities of teaching and learning, including the potential gender biases both in the knowledge and attitudes of educators, and in their teaching practice staff and students.
One of the successes of this project has been the pairing-meetings, the design of these meetings has been successful as it has allowed people from outside the project, but very linked to our universities, to participate and get to know Gearing-Roles and the actions of the equality plans.
We must value very positively the Conferences organised, first in Lisbon, then in Sabanci in online format, thirdly, in Tartu in hybrid format and finally the Final Conference and the Joint Conference in Brussels in October 2022. These conferences have deepened the mutual knowledge of the consortium members, but also raised awareness of the work carried out by the project and created interesting links with sister projects and other stakeholders.
Our communication policy was recognised by CORDIS. The social media campaigns and our website, with its podcasts, newsletters, videos and updated information has been a great achievement and a real success in terms of communication and knowledge transfer.
The GEARING-Roles project has stood out in several respects:
Firstly, the events organised by the project, mainly the three annual conferences, but also the webinars open to the community, have achieved high participation and have addressed issues essential to achieving the ERA objectives.
Secondly, the project has stood out for its innovation and creativity that makes the project's legacy visible in such creative results as the T-shirt collection, the Nobel Run board game or the Humorarium.
In addition, the project has stood out for its good results in social networks and in its external communication, being one of the best projects in terms of dissemination and transfer figures.
Finally, it should be noted that the project, despite not being a research project per se, has generated high impact scientific production and has hosted four pre-doctoral research projects.
Firstly, the events organised by the project, mainly the three annual conferences, but also the webinars open to the community, have achieved high participation and have addressed issues essential to achieving the ERA objectives.
Secondly, the project has stood out for its innovation and creativity that makes the project's legacy visible in such creative results as the T-shirt collection, the Nobel Run board game or the Humorarium.
In addition, the project has stood out for its good results in social networks and in its external communication, being one of the best projects in terms of dissemination and transfer figures.
Finally, it should be noted that the project, despite not being a research project per se, has generated high impact scientific production and has hosted four pre-doctoral research projects.